JA To Exercise MCC Contract Options - Kiribati TP CCPS OP1.pdf

UNCLASSIFIED

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Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.3 and in accordance with the requirements of FAR 6.303-1, the use of the statutory authority under FAR Subpart 6.3 is justified by the following facts and rationale as required under FAR 6.303-2.

1. Agency and Contracting Activity

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a United States government-owned corporation created under Title VI of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act for FY 2004. MCC forms partnerships with developing countries who are committed to good governance, economic freedom, and investing in their citizens; its model is centered around a competitive selection process, country-led solutions/implementation, and a focus on results. MCC’s time-limited grants take one of three forms: (1) Compacts (large, five-year grants for selected countries that meet MCC’s eligibility criteria); (2) Threshold Programs (smaller grants focused on policy and institutional reform in selected countries that come close to passing the eligibility criteria); and (3) Concurrent Compacts for Regional Investments (grants that promote cross-border economic integration).

This justification for other than full and open competition is issued by MCC’s Division of Contracts and Grants Management (CGM) to propose the retroactive exercise of a contract option period that lapsed on March 31, 2025. This approach is proposed as a direct consequence of the Foreign Assistance Review and pause on disbursements and new obligations, per the Executive Order on “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid” dated January 20, 2025 (Foreign Assistance Review).

2. Description of the Action Being Approved

In order to comply with the Foreign Assistance Review’s pause on disbursements and new obligations, MCC issued Stop Work and Temporary Pause Orders on all contracts and grants supporting the implementation of the Kiribati Threshold Program (THP). One of these contracts was Contract No.

95332424C0050 for Cross-Cutting Program Support (CCPS) services, implemented by Management Systems International, Inc. (MSI). The 90-day Stop Work Order became effective on January 31, 2025 and has been extended three times by mutual agreement – through May 29, 2025, June 29, 2025 and most recently, through July 29, 2025. During the effective period of the Stop Work Order, the contract’s base period of performance expired (March 31, 2025). While MCC had intended to exercise the pre-negotiated Option Period 1 (with a performance period of April 1, 2025 – March 31, 2026), the pause on new obligations necessitated by the Foreign Assistance Review precluded the action.

MCC proposes bilaterally and retroactively exercising the contract’s Option Period 1, with no additional funding obligated, while keeping the Stop Work Order in effect pending the outcome of the Foreign Assistance Review.

3. Description of the Services Required

On September 25, 2023, MCC and the Government of Kiribati (GoK) signed a Threshold Program Grant Agreement (Grant Agreement) with the objective to facilitate decent and inclusive employment for the citizens of Kiribati. The Mwakuri Aika Nakoraoi Ibukin Maeuraoimi Project (the “MANIM Project”)1 (“The

1 Mwakuri Aika Nakoraoi Ibukin Maeuraoimi translates to English as “Decent Employment for Everyone’s Development.”

MANIM is also a Kiribati word meaning “good luck.”

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/reevaluating-and-realigning-united-states-foreign-aid/

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Project”) consists of three activities:

• Mwakuri Aika a Raraoi Ibukimi 1 Activity (the “MARI 1 Activity”)2: Ministry of Employment and Human Resource (MEHR) Capability Building

• Mwakuri Aika a Raraoi Ibukimi 2 Activity (the “MARI 2 Activity”): Worker Protection and Family Resilience

• Uaiakinan ao Uarokoan Toronibwaia I-Kiribati Activity (the “UUTI Activity”)3: Youth Skills Camps and Scholarships

In order to implement the MANIM Project, the Cross-Cutting Program Support ("CCPS") contractor provides services in four cross-cutting programmatic activities:

• Support to Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation: Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) is the facilitated governance reform4 approach that has been selected for the MARI 1 Activity (MEHR Capability Building) of the MANIM Project.

• Project Monitoring Hub: The contractor serves as a hub for monitoring all results in the Project Logic.

• Travel and Meeting Support: The contractor administers domestic and international travel for Kiribati officials and relevant program participants to support Program objectives.

• Communications Support: The required strategic communications support aims to ensure that the Kiribati public is well and accurately informed about the objectives, progress, and achievements of the Program.

While all implementation activities are currently paused due to the Foreign Assistance Review, should the Kiribati THP be authorized to continue, MCC will need the CCPS contractor in a ready state in order to quickly resume program implementation. Exercising Option Period 1 will ensure the contract is active so that the Stop Work Order simply needs to be lifted if/when the program is permitted to restart after the Foreign Assistance Review is completed.

4. Identify the Statutory Authority Permitting Other than Full and Open Competition

Pursuant to FAR 6.302-1, there is only one responsible source, and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Since the contract was awarded, MSI has mobilized their staff and regional partner (Coffey Australia, Asia and Pacific (COZ)), established the necessary relationships with program stakeholders, and has already delivered on various aspects of the contract requirements during the contract’s base period, from June 17, 2024 to March 31, 2025 (taking into account that work was paused as of January 31, 2025). The Kiribati Threshold Program is a time-limited program (September 2023 – September 2027) and it has already been significantly impacted by the foreign assistance pause. Having to re-compete the CCPS procurement would have a devastating impact on the viability of the THP. Not only would it result in substantial additional delays and duplicative costs for the agency that are not expected to be recovered through competition; a new contractor would simply be unable to fully implement the requirement within the established program timeframe. MSI was selected after a complex competitive process that spanned close to eight (8) months and two rounds of soliciting quotations (the initial RFQ did not yield any responses). MSI was selected for their distinctive technical capabilities, highly relevant experience, and importantly, their “aggressive” mobilization plan, with work

2 Mwakuri Aika a Raraoi Ibukimi translates to English as “Decent Work for All.”

3 Uaiakinan ao Uarokoan Toronibwaia I-Kiribati Activity translates to English as “Striving to Achieve Well-being for I-Kiribati.”

UUTI (pronounced “ooss”) is also a Kiribati word meaning “awake” or “wake up.”

4 Facilitated governance reform, or “FGR,” is the broader terminology used in MCC documents such as the Threshold Grant Agreement to refer to activities such as PDIA. However, given that the specific PDIA has now been selected, this document adopts the PDIA acronym instead of FGR.

3 | P a g e beginning immediately. At this point in time, no other entity can provide the required services without imposing a major risk to the program timeline, especially when considering the history of this procurement. This action does not resemble the substance of a pending competitive action.

5. Demonstration that the Contractor’s Unique Qualifications or Nature of the Acquisition Requires the Use of Only One Responsible Source Authority

This justification covers an existing MCC contract with an incumbent contractor for non-competitive contract option exercise. The contractor, Management Systems International, Inc., was competitively selected in accordance with FAR Part 13, via full and open competition. Under normal circumstances, exercise of the option period in accordance with the contract terms would not require a new procurement, nor would it require a new award.

Because of the time-sensitive nature of the Kiribati Threshold Program, only MSI would be able to see it through to completion at this point. They have already gone through the learning curve and have coordinated extensively to ensure a reliable network of team members and resources, including subcontracting, overseas mobilization, and stakeholder engagement. Two examples of the unique qualifications provided by MSI include the firm’s role in M&E and travel support:

• MSI plays the lead role on M&E for the project, coordinating closely with the Government of Kiribati and all implementing partners and contractors. Their role is to consolidate and aggregate data, as well as to provide quality control. This role requires MSI to coordinate closely with Government of Kiribati officials as well as with other implementing partners and contractors. MSI’s M&E lead, who is based in Australia, has extensive Kiribati experience; she has leveraged this experience to work closely with all parties to create strong and accurate M&E documentation and to secure government approval of the project’s M&E Plan. Her knowledge of the Kiribati decision-making environment, the political context, and her Pacific location (which allows for easy mission travel) have made her invaluable to the advancement of the overall project and the maintenance of the MCC-Kiribati partnership.

• MSI manages travel for all Kiribati stakeholders involved in the project. This travel support task involves a high level of coordination, communication, diplomacy and detail. Kiribati stakeholders are not accustomed to travel outside of their country and each and every detail of the travel requires explanation, support, clarification and follow through. MSI has developed a strong base of relationships, communication tools, and expertise to manage the complexity of this task.

These efforts cannot be duplicated without creating significant delays that would jeopardize the completion and success of the threshold program.

6. Describe Efforts Made to Ensure That Offers Were Solicited from as Many Potential Sources as Practical, Including Whether the Action Was Synopsized as Required by FAR Subpart 5.2.

The award to MSI was made after a full and open competitive process. A Pre-Solicitation Notice to share the draft Statement of Work was published on SAM.gov on November 3, 2023, with a response deadline of November 10, 2023. Solicitation 95332424Q0009 was published on November 24, 2023, with an offer due date of January 10, 2024, which was subsequently extended to January 19, 2024 due to a perceived lack of interest. When no submissions were received, further market research was performed and a new amendment revising and reopening the RFQ was issued on February 27, 2024. On March 5, 2024, MCC held a pre-submission webinar to discuss the requirement and respond to industry questions. A total of 22 individuals from 11 different companies registered for the event. The revised due date for quotations was March 28, 2024 and four (4) responsive quotations were submitted by the https://sam.gov/opp/f7e41d8398454f658a8bf282711a2e7b/view https://sam.gov/opp/e216475bd7f444afa27ed23dd693a5cd/view

4 | P a g e deadline. Indeed, a tremendous amount of effort was made to ensure that offers were solicited from as many potential sources as practicable.

The original requirement was synopsized as required by FAR Subpart 5.2, and this proposed J&A will also be synopsized in SAM.gov at least 15 days before the proposed contract action is taken.

7. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the Government Will be Fair and Reasonable

MCC conducted a detailed price analysis at the time of contract award and determined MSI’s price (including that of Option Period 1) to be fair and reasonable; further, their price was established as a result of adequate price competition. The option exercise will be issued in accordance with existing contract terms, and without obligating additional funds. Based on the original price analysis and on the planned approach to the proposed contract action, the Contracting Officer hereby determines that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

8. Describe the Market Research Conducted (Reference FAR Part 10) or State the Reason Market Research was Not Conducted

CGM requires market research to be conducted during the acquisition planning stage for every requirement. The market research conducted for this procurement entailed two phases:

1) This contract is modeled after and shares a number of similarities with the CCPS contract under the Solomon Islands THP (SITHP). Therefore, the market research conducted for the SITHP procurement was highly relevant for this procurement. For the SITHP procurement, the team performed market research via two (2) requests for information (RFIs) posted on SAM.gov for the Facilitated Governance Reform work and the Communications/Meeting Support work. The notices yielded positive responses and great interest from large and small international entities familiar with similar scopes of work. The team also released a draft SOW for industry feedback which affirmed that it made sense to bundle all cross-cutting services under one contract. Based on the responses and industry feedback, the country team, in collaboration with CGM, determined that pursuing a full and open competitive procurement would be the best course of action for Solomon Islands. Based on this experience, the team determined that a similar approach would be appropriate for Kiribati, with modifications to the scope to account for lessons learned from the Solomon Islands program.

2) Market research specific to the Kiribati THP CCPS procurement was conducted and enhanced with several industry engagements including a pre-submission conference, outreach to inform potentially interested offerors of the solicitation, and targeted post-solicitation market research (via emails and meetings) to obtain industry feedback. The companies included the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) BPA holders and companies who expressed prior interest in working with MCC on similar requirements (notably the SITHP CCPS requirement). The main purpose of the post-solicitation market research was to gain insight into the reason(s) why no quotations were received by the original due date of January 19, 2024, and to seek constructive feedback on how to refine and improve the SOW and the RFQ, specifically the personnel and past performance requirements.

No further market research seeking the initiation of a new competitive procurement or new sources for this contract is anticipated or planned.

9. Cite Any Other Facts Supporting the Justification

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On June 10, 2025, MCC’s Senior Procurement Executive issued internal guidance regarding the exercise of upcoming option periods in light of the ongoing Foreign Assistance Review. Had this contract not expired in March 2025, it would’ve been subject to the current guidance, which permits options to be exercised for limited periods (but restricts the obligation of additional funds where possible). This J&A is meant to allow for the re-activation of the Kiribati THP CCPS contract (95332424C0050) by retroactively exercising Option Period 1 effective April 1, 2025 (with no additional funding obligated), while keeping the original Stop Work Order in place. This would facilitate program readiness by ensuring an active contract is available for work to resume under, per the established contract scope, pending the outcome of the Foreign Assistance Review. If MCC waited for the results of the Foreign Assistance Review to take this action, it would delay the THP’s potential restart, as the J&A and option exercise paperwork would need to be processed before the contractor could resume performance. MSI fulfills many of the administrative functions of a traditional accountable entity and without these critical services, the program would struggle to remobilize. In the case of a restart, the following efforts would not be able to move forward without an active contract with MSI: the MARI I activity, M&E, and the second Annual Learning Session. The approval of this justification will position the project to have all implementing partners and contractors in a ready state should a decision be made to continue the program.

10. List all Sources, if any, Who Expressed in Writing an Interest in the Acquisition

The identity of the unsuccessful offerors on the original solicitation is procurement sensitive information. With respect to the current action (exercising Option Period 1), no sources are expected to express interest, though this J&A will be posted on SAM.gov 15 days before the proposed action is taken and if expressions of interest are received, they will be considered accordingly.

11. State the Actions, if any, the Agency will Take to Remove or Overcome any Barriers to Competition Before any Subsequent Acquisition for the Supplies or Services Required

Not applicable. The contract covered by this J&A was awarded using full and open competition procedures per FAR Part 13, and thus has already maximized competition to the greatest extent practicable.